How the New River Conservancy is helping to rebuild in western NC after Helene
When Hurricane Helene swept through western North Carolina, it left more than floodwaters and debris in its wake. It tested the resilience of entire communities and their natural resources.
The impact was immediate and deeply personal for the New River Conservancy, an environmental nonprofit with headquarters in Ashe County that’s now in its 50th year of protecting the New River. The Ashe County Community Foundation, an affiliate of the North Carolina Community Foundation, recommended NRC for a $25,000 grant from NCCF’s Disaster Relief Fund. The grant was awarded in early 2025, allowing NRC to not only respond to the crisis but expand its mission.
“It was a real kind of stress test,” said Andrew Downs, who stepped into the role of executive director just a few weeks before the storm. “What I found out being new is that the New River Conservancy was incredibly connected to the resource and to the people who loved the New River and really had some strong programs in place that represented that connection.”
That connection became a lifeline in the aftermath of Helene. “People from all over the watershed really were coming to us asking, ‘Where do we need help? Where can we help? What can we do?’” said Downs. “So what we did really was move pretty quickly to ramp up the programs we already had in place.”
River cleanups had always been part of NRC’s work. However, as the damage became clear, so did the need to act fast. Volunteers stepped up, and thanks to the grant from NCCF’s Disaster Relief Fund, NRC had the resources to meet the moment.
“We pretty quickly received a grant from NCCF that we were almost able to turn around that week into supplies and equipment for leading volunteer trips,” Downs said. “Whether it’s the trash bags or tools or gloves or the shuttling gas, just to deploy this many volunteers, it was incredible.”
With the help of other area nonprofits, NRC has organized nine cleanup events in western North Carolina since the storm, bringing together over 300 volunteers who helped remove over 33,000 pounds of debris and 162 tires from the New River and surrounding areas.
With the money from the NCCF grant, the organization also brought on a staffer who will help lead weekly events throughout the summer. “This will be a local, full-time, seasonal staff member that we will hire to run our cleanups and really give us another set of hands just devoted to volunteerism on the New River,” said Downs.
NRC will also continue with planned restoration projects by planting nearly 10,000 native plants to stabilize riverbanks and enhance ecological health and expanding New River State Park by 66 acres.
Downs emphasized that the timing of the NCCF grant made a lasting emotional difference for the community. “Helene hit at a horrible time for a lot of reasons,” he said. “It was right at the beginning of winter right after the leaves come down. So you see all the trash and debris in the trees, and then people had to stare at it.”
NCCF’s support made it possible for NRC to start making visible progress right away. “Even if it’s a small thing or on the scale of Helene, being able to capture the community interest in positive change and drive that toward the problems that people are seeing every day I think was a big factor in moving forward,” Downs said.